Fence-building machine



(No Model.)

B. 0. JOHNSON. FENCE BUILDING MACHINE.

No. 500,004. Patented June 20, 1893.

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BENJAMIN O. JOHNSON, OF COLLEGE HILL, MISSISSIPPI.

FENCE-BUILDING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 500,004, dated June 20, 1893. Application filed October 20, 1892. Serial No. 419,467. (No model.)

State of Mississipphhave invented a new and useful Improvement in Fence-Building Machines, of which the following is a full, clear,

and exact description.

My invention relates to an improvement in machines for building fences, and especially to that class of machines for constructing wire and picket fence, and the object of the invention is to provide a machine of exceedingly. simple and durable construction and capable of being readily transported from place to place and of being conveniently and expeditiously manipulated to separate wire strands to receive pickets, twist or close the strands around the pickets and hold them thereby firmly in the intended position.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a machine in which the strands of Wire adapted to support the pickets will be under constant and uniform tension while the machine is in operation.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several parts, as

will be hereinafter fully set forth and pointed out in the claim.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures and letters of reference indicate corresponding partsin all the views.

Figure 1 is a side, elevation of the machine and a side elevation of a panel of the fence partially constructed, the machine being illustrated as applied to the panel. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the machine and the fence panel. Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken essentially on the line w-w of Fig. 1 through the machine. Fig. 4 is a detail view representing a side elevation of the twisting apparatus. Fig. 5 is a section taken transversely through the twisting apparatus essentially on the line y-y of Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a partial side elevation of the body of the twisting apparatus. Fig. 7 is a detail view of one of the twisting disk hubs; and Fig. 8 is a detail view of a fence brace.

In carrying out the invention the machine proper may be said to consist of a frame A preferably of a skeleton and rectangular construction. The top of the frame however is provided with arms 10, which extend beyond its rear end, and each of these arms carries a guide pulley, said pulleys being designated as 11 and 12. In the rear portion of the frame, between the sides, three reels are journaled, designated respectively as 13 and 14 and 15. The two lower reels 13 and 14, are adapted to carry smooth wire in double strands, and the upper reel 15, is designed to carry barbed wire.

Each lower reel-18 and 14: is provided at diagonally opposite sides with a drum pulley, and said pulleys are designated on the drawings. as 16 and 17. Each drum pulley has secured upon it a staple or an equivalent device, and to the staple of each drum pulley one end of a rope or the equivalent thereof is adapted to be secured, and these ropes are designated in the drawings as 18 and 19. The rope 18, is led upward over the guide pulley 11 and downward at therear of the machine, while the rope 19 is carried upward in like manner over the guide pulley 12. Both of the ropes l8 and 19, at their rear or free ends have attached thereto weights 20 of any approved construction. In the drawings buckets are shown as attached t the ropes, in which any number of pounds of solid material may be placed, the weight being sufficient or what may be required to exert proper tension upon the reels. The object of these weights and ropes is to exert constant tension upon the wires 21 and 22 carried by the reels 13 and 14 when the said wires have been stretched to receive pickets 23.

The portion of the machine above described may be properly designated as the body portion; and in connection with the body portion a twister and spreader B, is used. This twister and spreader may be made of metal, wood, or any approved material, and it is constructed in two sections 24 and 25, one section being adapted to slide upon the other, whereby the body or bar portion of the spreadelyconsisting of the sections 24 and 25, may be adjusted vertically to any height demanded by the elevation of the fence to be erected. The sections when adjusted are held firmly one in enslots extend gagement with the other preferably by means of a set'screw 26, passed through a slotin one of the sections and into an aperture in the other section. The slot is usually placed in the upper section 24, and the other section is made with a partial sleeve 27, as shown in Fig. 1, which sleeve serves asa guide for the upper section when it is to be adjusted.

According to the number of reels carrying smooth wire and located upon the body of the machinea corresponding number of openings 28, is made in the sections of the body of the spreader and twister. The .openingsare circular as shown best in 28, is intersected bya channel 29 produced in the body portion of the twister and spreader, as is likewise shown in Fig. 6, and these channels pass through one edge of the said body. Ordinarily an opening 28 may be made in the upper section and another opening of the same character may be made in the lower section of the body of the spreader. Through each of the openings 28 the hub 30, attached to a disk 31 is passed, and the hub after having been passed through the opening has socured to it a second disk 32; thus the hub is free to turn in theopening in which it is located, and a disk is at each side of the body section in which that opening is located. Each disk is preferably provided with two diametrically opposite slots 33, and these from the periphery to a point at 'or near the center. The hub 30, which is shown in detail in Fig. 7, is provided with corresponding and registering slots 34, and both disks and hub are rotated through the medium of levers 35, which levers are secured to what may be termed the inner disk, or that to which the hub is secured.

In the operation of building the fence, the posts 0 and 0' are placed in the ground in an upright position in any suitable 'or approved manner, and the posts are held a suitable distance apartand are braced at their lower ends by means of a bottom rail 36,-shown in detail in Fig.8, the ends of which rail are tenoned so as to receive the inner edges of the posts. This rail is shown in position in Fig. 1 and may be removable, in which event it may also be employed as a guide for the lower ends of pickets. A brace may be placed also from foot of one post to top of the other, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. "1. The frame A is then placed adjacent to one of the posts as shown 'in Figs. 1 and 2, and the double strandsof wire are drawn from the reels 13 and 14 and are securely fastened to the opposite post. At the time that the wire is unreeled from the reels the tension ropes 18 and 19, are disconnected from the drums 16 and 17; or the ropes may be allowed to remain in engagement with the drums, but the weights in that event are removed from the ropes.

When the wire strands have been properly stretched, which is accomplished by turning the reels through the mediumof suitable Fig. .6. Each opening cranks, the weights are applied to theropes 18 and 19,said weights being sufficiently heavy to prevent the reels from'turning in a direction to slacken the wire. The spreader and twisting device is now placed near to the post to which the wire strands are fastened,

and the disks 31 and 32 are turned in sucha' manner as to cause the slots therein, referred to as 33, to register with the channels 29 in the body of the twisting device; and when the disks are in thisposition the wire strands are entered through' the channels 29 into the slots of the disks, one strand being entered into the slots atone side of the disks, and the disks are then revolved to bring their opposing slots in registry with .thechannels 29, and then the second strands are entered into the slots of the disks. Thus when the disks are so located that their slots are transversely placed upon the body of the twister or spreader, both the upper and the lower strands of the wire will beseparated.

Before entering the first picket the disks are turned by means of the levers 35 in a direction to twist the wire strands at the post to which the strands are secured; the wire strands are then separated or opened by carrying the levers in an opposite direction, a picket is passed down through the opening in the strands and the lovers are continued to be turned in the oppositedirection, there.- by twisting thewire strandsaround the picket. The levers are then turned in a reverse direction,again opening he strands, a second picket is introduced into the opening, the movement of the levers is reversed, and this second picket is thereby wired into position alongside of the first picket. This operation is repeated, picket after picket being placed and the wire strands. twisted first in one direction and then in theother, the .twistingfde vice being moved along the wire as the panel is filled with pickets until the last or anchor post is reached, whereupon'the twisting device may be removed and carried to the opposite side of the anchor post, and the wire twisted until it is to be secured to the said 0st. p It is evident that this machine is not only simple and durable but that it does not need skilled labor to successfully operate it. It is further apparent that the operation of'the machine may beexpeditiously as well as conveniently performed. When the pickets have been set in a panel of fence the barbed wire is run from the upper reel 15, and is secured to the tops of the posts of the panel before ICC the body portion of the fencing machine is A removed. I

Having thus descri, ed my invention, I

claim as newand desire to secure by Letters Patentt In a wire twister for fence-making machines, the combinatiomwith a body bar constructed in sections ad ustable upon each other, and a locking device carried by the seced also to register with the slots in the body bar, and levers connected with the disks, [0'

whereby they are revolved, as and for the purpose set forth.

I BENJAMIN O. JOHNSON. Witnesses:

JOHN A. HOLLOWELL, J AMES P. WILBANKS. 

